The Gift of the Magi
by StellaHunterOfArtemis
Summary: Three-Shot. Percy Jackson is asked a peculiar question during his English Exam. It asked for an essay. What is the actual question? How does Percy answer it? Read on to find out.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, guys, as you might probably know my exams are going on right now; in fact, today was my last paper. I'm so happy! But the thing is, while studying I got tons of inspiration for tons of stories. Sorry for neglecting the famous stories of mine, but I just have to write and post them. So, here it is: 'The Gift of the Magi'. It is set after the Giant War. I have given a summary below, but if you want the proper summary, type 'the gift of the magi o'henry summary' on Google.**

**Summary of the story****: This story is about a young man and woman, Jim and Della. They were very poor, but they loved each other dearly. They both had one treasured possession each; Della's long brown hair which fell to almost her knees and Jim's gold watch. On Christmas, Della has only two dollars, so she sells her hair and gets twenty dollars. She spends twenty one dollars buying a platinum fob chain for Jim's watch. When she returns back home, she tries to fix her hair using curling irons. It makes her look like a naughty schoolboy. When Jim comes home, he's surprised to see Della like that, because he had brought a set of combs which went beautifully with her brown hair. He got the money by selling his gold watch. Jim tells Della to put their gifts away for the time as they are of no use to them. The story ends with O'Henry saying that people who give and receive gifts like the above ones, are the wisest of our generation; the Magi.**

_Paul's POV_

I sighed and looked at the time; one hour of the three hour exam left. I really pity these poor kids; they have to sit through three hours of a written examination, while back in my day, we had only two hours. The studying system had definitely become harsher.

I glanced at my stepson Percy's paper as I walked past. I saw that he had finished most of his paper. He looked to be puzzling about the last question I had set. It was: _Write an essay on why Jim and Della were called the wisest, the Magi, in the story 'The Gift of the Magi'._

He looked at me with a questioning look on his face. I just smiled and walked back to the front.

The poor boy bore so many hardships during his Sophomore Year. He had been missing since the winter, and when Sally and I found out that he had been kidnapped by his aunt, Lady Hera, the Queen of Heaven, most probably not returning until the end of Sophomore year (informed by Percy's distraught girlfriend, Annabeth, via an Iris-Message), we were forced to have Chiron to use the Mist on the school-officials so that Percy could keep his spot in the school. They were under the impression that his aunt had taken him on a world tour because he had been overworking. He woke up when Sophomore Year was drawing to an end, and fought for his life in a battle against the Giants in Greece and Rome while I was stuck here in USA, New York City, _teaching_ children about the first Giant War in order to make them understand about Greece, which we would study in Junior Year. Lovely, eh?

He had been thrown into hell, Tartarus, spent three days too many in there with Annabeth, then almost lose his girlfriend and some of his crew-mates. This made him realize that he should enjoy life while he could, and that he should tell people he loved them how many ever times he needed to.

Since then, he went to Camp every weekend, told Sally he loved her whenever she did something nice for him, and told Annabeth he loved her every time he saw her.

Tartarus had not just affected him emotionally; he had been affected physically too. His left foot and right arm had been shattered; Apollo had to pick the pieces of his bones and fix them _manually_. He had several scars on his face which had been deep cuts when he just exited Tartarus. He had a huge horizontal gash on his chest and a vertical one on his back which still hurt, even a year after they had been inflicted, whenever touched. Sally used to send him to take a bath everyday three times. It helped and healed him faster. Now they have been reduced to once a day.

His eyes, which used to be so happy and sparkly, had become serious when he returned. They had only just started gaining some of their shine back.

Another side-effect: He could not survive without seeing Annabeth at least once a day. She had shifted in their house, so they could see each other all the time, seeing as Annabeth suffered the same fate. She did not study in the same school; she claimed that Percy didn't let her study.

Paul broke out of his thoughts to look at Percy, who was handing him his paper. Hm, this was one paper that I would enjoy correcting, despite the large amount of spelling mistakes which would no doubt be made.

**So, the first chapter for 'The Gift of the Magi' is over! The third part is written (it's the essay), so the moment I finish writing the second, I'll post the last two parts. See you later!**

**Yours truly,**

**Stella**


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh My Gods! I had posted this story like – like, **_**one day ago**_**. I go without seeing my mail for the day (not even twenty four hours, mind you) and when I do, I get the shock of my life. **_**Thirty-three emails**_**! That's supreme! True, some were Facebook and a couple were utter nonsense (minus the Rick Riordan newsletter), but the rest were all Fanfiction! I was so staggered, I decided to work on this chapter immediately, and if you want to know, I had typed out the actual essay before I finished the first chapter 'cause I didn't want to lose it from my memory. Anyways, I've taken enough of your precious time, so let's go on!**

_**Paul's POV**_

I rubbed my eyes for the fifth time today. I was too tired of correcting the essays lying in front of me – until my eyes fell on the person who wrote the next paper: Percy Jackson. Of course, he wrote _Perseus_ instead of Percy, but you get the point.

I read through the paper quite fast, probably not as attentively as I should have, because I wanted to reach the last essay. What I did read through made me astounded; I did not expect this from Percy Jackson. He may be my stepson, but frankly, I did not expect this from a person who went through the amount Percy did in the time before the last three months. I quickly reached the essay, and was about to start reading it, when I was interrupted by the school Mathematics teacher, Ms Vanessa Roberts.

'Aren't you tired of correcting papers? I know I am,' she yawned. I followed her example.

'Not really,' I smiled slightly. At Vanessa's questioning look, I said, 'I had posed a small story and asked for an essay on it. The question was: _Write an essay on why Jim and Della were called the wisest, the Magi, in the story 'The Gift of the Magi'_. I wanted to see how my stepson, Percy, did in the essay.'

Vanessa's face darkened slightly. She did not like Percy, everyone knew that.

'But before reading his paper, yes, I was tired,' I concluded.

Vanessa sighed through her nose. 'I suppose you wouldn't mind me reading the essay?' she questioned.

'No, I wouldn't,' I smiled warmly.

We bent over the essay. I was, to put it bluntly, very surprised. My stepson, Percy Jackson, has managed to write such a beautiful, sentimental essay, that to with only _four spelling mistakes_! With his dyslexia, that's, to say the least, near-impossible. The vocabulary he used was also beautiful. What is the world coming to?

When I finished reading the essay, which was short and sweet and to-the-point, I looked at Vanessa. She had tears in her eyes. She dabbed them quickly, and said, 'I would never have pegged this essay to have been written by Percy Jackson. I may be wrong about him.'

That day, when I was driving Percy home after the day (he didn't get his Maserati Spyder, which had been a gift from the Olympians after the Giant War, as it had gone for servicing), he asked me, 'Did you have a talk with Ms Roberts, Paul? She behaved like she was starting to like me now.'

I just smiled and looked mysterious; it's what I did best. My eyes on the traffic-lights, I said, 'Some sentimental things are good for you.'

Poor fellow, he got so confused.

**Now, of course, this story's almost over. Only the essay left. And that's up too, unless I'm much mistaken. Bye!**

**Yours truly,**

**Stella**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, guys, this is the last piece of the three-shot, 'The Gift of the Magi'. I hope you guys enjoyed reading this story as I had writing it. This is the essay Percy had written.**

_**Percy Jackson's essay on the question: **_**Write an essay on why Jim and Della were called the wisest, the Magi, in the story 'The Gift of the Magi'.**

Jim and Della are the wisest, the Magi, because their love for each other runs so deep, that they would give up the world for the other. And not pretend love either.

These days, almost everybody claims to be in love. If you go to a random stranger and ask them if they are in love, there is a very high chance that they'll say yes. If they say yes, then ask them if they'll give up their most treasured possession up to them. If they say yes, they love truly. Congratulate them and walk away. If they don't (as many would), it's to be expected. Shake your head disgustedly and walk away. If they don't say yes to the first question, you've found someone one of a kind. That's because they're just waiting for someone special to turn up. Say you hope them to find someone who will love them as much as they would love the person. If you ask people what they treasure the most, you might find an array of answers. All you need to do is find someone who says a person's name.

To love someone unconditionally means that if you had the chance, you'd gladly give up the world for them. You'd rather stay with them forever in Had – I mean, hell – than to stay on the Earth with someone you love only half as much. Jim and Della loved each other so much, that on one day you have to have presents to give loved ones, they gave up the things they treasured most (Jim, his watch, and Della, her hair) just to buy the other a present. They did it even when they were poor.

They loved the other so much, they could only think about what the other would say about the gifts. Jim tells Della that nothing she does would make him change his mind about how much he loved her in the story. He was wise enough to give up one of his most treasured things for the love of his life. This proves that he loved Della with everything he had. And as Della did the same for him, it says that her love for Jim equals his love for her.

The Magi had invented the art of giving Christmas gifts. The two were the Magi, because, just as the Magi, they gave thoughtful, wonderful gifts to one other on Christmas. They were the most intelligent people of their times. This is the main reason why Jim and Della are compared to the Magi. Because they were thoughtful enough to give the other a gift which they would really appreciate.

_Examination written by: Perseus Jackson_

_Year: Junior_

**Hope you enjoyed! I was filled with so much emotion while writing the essay! I have just burned myself on my foot, and my **_**lovely**_** mother has been yelling at me for no reason. So I was in a sad mood, but I still managed to write the last paragraph of this story before I burst into tears.**

**Yours truly,**

**Stella**


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